We’re very lax in our writing. Actually, not “we;” me. Richard keeps a daily journal, but we’re too far past our last blog entry to try to retrace our travels.
March was baptized but Virginia chose to wait until a family crisis involving her son is resolved.
We teach between 20 and 25 lessons each week with varying degrees of progress. We want to introduce you to a few of our dear ones…
We’ve told you about Hilda before. Hilda (who has a little 5-year-old son, Danny) didn’t know she was a member, but when we first taught her we could tell she was a golden find because of the way she loved the Book of Mormon. We learned after the second lesson that Hilda had been baptized when she was 12 but her family immediately became less active. She doesn’t speak English, so we all celebrated when we discovered she was already a member. She found the church twice! She has a burning testimony and doesn’t let language challenges stop her from bearing her testimony. Her English is improving every day.
Brother Womack, whom we’ve also previously described as our best member-missionary, works at the airport gift shop and rarely checks out customers without talking with them about their Heavenly Father. About twice a week he gives us a referral.
There are three older women we call on that will never be baptized but they need us. One is Erika. Her father was in Hitler’s elite squad. Her stories are wonderful and she’s fearless and non-complaining even though her health is fragile.
One of our investigators, Dee, has her mother-in-law living with her, plus her mother-in-law’s dog. They received a 10-day-notice from the landlord about the dog and we took the issue to our Ward Council. Brother Lonnie, a generous-hearted member who lives on an island, offered to babysit the dog. Sitka Ward is awesome.
We are teaching the Williamson family and they’re progressing well. Sister Williamson is ready for baptism and calls herself a “dry member.” Brother Williamson receives teachings so well that we think it won’t be long until he is ready to commit.
We took our sweet Leeshawna off date. She took pills when her boyfriend got engaged and we’ve been helping her move, etc. It was interesting when we were at the hospital with Leeshawna because the doctor that treated her was one of our investigators, and Brother Williamson is manager of the counseling service. We knew several of the attendants from other visits.
Our days end after 9 PM and we notice that we’re somewhat tired but generally too spiritually-exhilarated to settle down right away. We feel we’re serving in the best place on earth. We have several investigators that we feel will be baptized soon.
In addition to teaching we do volunteer work at the community center and at the library. Right now it’s more volunteer work than is comfortable. On March 3 we’re in charge of a celebration at the library for Dr. Seuss’s birthday. It includes a skit by the high school and involves volunteers from the junior high in face-painting and crafts, as well as a junior-magicians workshop. It’s been good community involvement and two investigators are helping us. However, we get more personal satisfaction and downright joy from simply teaching the gospel.
Here are a few photos that will catch you up. We’ll try to be more diligent about writing!
Love,
Richard and Linda, Mom and Dad, Papa and Nanny
 |
| Brother Womack at the airport |
 |
| March Runner's baptism. She's amazing! |
 |
| We're sad to report the JJ's mother, Lynda Joyce Knoll, died January 15, 2012. Everyone who knew her mourns. Our Jana is on the right. |
 |
| Lonnie and Sandy East. |
 |
| Sitka Ward Relief Society presidency: Alison, Marcia,, Patti (president) and Angie |
 |
| Meet little Hilda. |
 |
| Our friend, Grace, whom we work with at the community center. |
 |
| The swans are thick and sooo beautiful. |
 |
| Sunset view from our apartment |
